FAMILY HEIRLOOM | Omeleto

A man asks his girlfriend's father for his blessing to marry her. Her father has a twisted test.
FAMILY HEIRLOOM is used with permission from Will Pinke. Learn more at https://instagram.com/pinkepanther.
Guy is in love with his lively girlfriend Emily and wants to marry her. He's ready to propose, but first, he has to ask her father Marty formally for his permission. But the prospect intimidates him because Guy thinks Marty doesn't really like him and doesn't take him seriously as a man.

Gruff and not a little intimidating, Marty says that before Guy can marry Emily, Guy must do something first: he must use Emily's grandmother's ring. But to do so... he must dig it up from the grandmother's grave.

Directed and written by Will Pinke, this comedy short is essentially an exercise in how far a man will go for the woman he loves, balanced with unexpected turns into thriller and even horror territory. It begins calmly enough, with a dark, slightly lurid naturalistic scene between Guy and Emily and then with Marty, showing Guy to be a fundamentally decent, loving person who just wants to do the right thing. The sharp dialogue also offers a solid glimpse into who the other characters are: Emily is a livewire, while Marty is also abrasive and more than a little intimidating.

Emily calls her dad "nuts," and when Marty presents Guy with the task he must do to secure his matrimonial blessing, viewers start to think that as well. But as Marty and Guy drive into the night on a dark and winding road, we wonder if there isn't a more nefarious agenda, thanks to the moody, almost sinister cinematography and edgy score. From there, the film remarkably balances a mixture of tones, building a sense of tension as Guy sets about his grim task. It's very dark, both tonally and visually, and as Guy digs in both panic and fear, we get a sense that anything could happen: Marty could knock Guy on the head, or a monster could emerge from the coffin.

As Guy, actor Woody Fu is the increasingly fearful center of the film, going along with each turn with a rising level of disbelief. He has many funny lines and panicked reactions, but he also carries the role of straight man well, allowing actor Bill Gold as Marty to ping-pong between affectionate dad and scary patriarch. Much of the film's comedy and overall fascination comes from the thin line between the hilariously ludicrous to the genuinely crazy -- a line that Guy must toe, only to find himself falling off at a key moment.

Smart, well-written and solidly executed, FAMILY HEIRLOOM is a shining example of using ambiguity to build tension and comedy at the same time, a high-wire storytelling act that's hard to pull off but well-done (and very fun) here. We never quite know where the film will settle until the very end when the dust clears and Guy sees exactly what kind of family he's marrying into. The memorable ending, as a result, makes perfect sense -- and makes for a sigh of relief from both him and the audience at once.

Видео FAMILY HEIRLOOM | Omeleto канала Omeleto